Windburn

The demon nodded. “Done. My name is Orion. And I have been promised a witchling child of my choice from the coven.”

One of the coven members gasped. “No!”

Apparently not everyone had been aware of the deal. I lowered my spear, feeling the truth of the demon’s words. I didn’t like it, but I had given my word. “I hope we meet again, demon. I look forward to sending you back to the seventh veil.”

He barked a laugh as he stepped away from me. “You fancy yourself a Slayer now?”

Peta leapt toward him, landing in a crouch at his feet, swiping at him with one big paw and knocking him on his ass. “Blood of the Slayers springs from a single well, demon. Do you not wonder where that well is grounded?”

He scrambled backward, scooting across the grass, the firelight illuminating the fear on his face.

“Then I hope we never meet again, Elemental. Slayer. Whatever you are.” He spun and strode away, the coven encircling him.

As they disappeared into the night, a trickle of anxiety spread upward through me. “I should have killed him.”

The Bastard snorted. “And break your word? You’d sooner give up your connection to your element.”

I didn’t answer, just stared into the bush where the coven and the demon had disappeared. I didn’t realize I’d taken steps in their direction until Cactus stopped me. “Lark, that is not our battle. We have to get to your father, and for that we need the Tracker.”

He was right, but that did not mean I had to like it. “I should have killed him. Worm shit.” I jammed my spear into the ground several times, digging up the turf.

Peta cleared her throat. “Before The Bastard leaves, you’d best ask him for help.”

I spun to see that the Pegasus was indeed flexing his wings. “Wait, I need your help. Please.”

He tipped his head to one side and blew a breath through his lips, making them wobble. “What kind of help?”

“We are looking for a Tracker. She’s gone to the Namib Sand Sea. It’s too big to search on foot in a timely manner. Will you take us?”

He shook his head and ruffled his feathers. “Normally I’d tell you to buck off. But since you put my guts back together, I think I can give you this one flight.” He bent a knee and I leapt onto his back before he could change his mind. Peta shifted into her housecat form and did the same.

A breath of relief escaped me, chased by a surge of anxiety. We were one step closer to finding my father. I gripped The Bastard’s side with my legs. Cactus swung up behind me and tucked in close so as to stay out of the path of The Bastard’s wings.

Beneath us, The Bastard’s muscles bunched and he leapt forward, going from a standstill to a gallop in one stride. His wings beat furiously as we reached the edge of the clearing, and he lifted. His legs treaded the air as if he were still running as his wings did the work of holding us aloft.

“Do you have a name besides The Bastard?” I asked as we swept toward the coastline.

He gave a low grunt. “We aren’t friends, Elemental. I did that once, it did not end well. You don’t need my name for this exchange of favors.”

I tightened my grip on his mane as we swooped through a bank of clouds. “You mean you had a friend? Or you were friends with an elemental?”

He tipped his head so his large dark eye could look at me. “Both.”

Peta squirmed into my lap. “Bastard, I have worked with you before.”

“You are not an elemental, Peta. You are a familiar and a child of the goddess. That I can respect. The elementals are a spineless lot who cower in their homes like ostriches with their heads buried in the sand and their asses in the air.”

His words were not untrue, which made them sting all the more.

“Lark is not like the others,” Peta said. “It is why . . . why she is worth fighting for.” Her green eyes locked with mine. “She is different.”

The Bastard snorted. “All that means is she will be killed. Or banished, which is the same thing.”

“How do you know so much about elementals?” Cactus beat me to the question on the tip of my tongue.

Peta shook her head, but The Bastard answered. “Elementals were what the humans thought were the Grecian gods. They set themselves up to rule. They were petty and cruel and thought nothing of manipulating people.”

My jaw dropped, I’ll admit it. “That can’t be.”

“I was there, Elemental. I saw it with my own eyes and lived through it.” His wings stilled as we coasted high above the treetops and then over the ocean. “Your kind . . . they have done far more harm than good to this world because of their pride.”

His words shouldn’t have stunned me, yet they did. I wanted to believe my people weren’t the problem. That it was the humans who’d caused all the destruction of the earth and the elements . . . but maybe if we’d shown them the way. If we’d been a part of their world instead of separating them, things would be different. Cactus slipped an arm around my waist. “He’s wrong.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think he is, Cactus. Where would we be if we had helped the humans? If we’d shown them how to care for the elements and our world?”

He sucked in a sharp breath. “That would mean exposing ourselves to them.”

I said nothing more, feeling the weight of The Bastard’s words on my soul. He was right.

The elementals had been selfish. They had caused harm to the world, and now they acted as though it was not their place to fix anything.